| Description:
Penang Sign Language (PSL) was developed in Malaysia by deaf children, outside the classroom, when oralism was predominant. It is now mainly used by older people, although many younger people can understand it.
Penang Sign Language began when the first school for the deaf, Federation School for the Deaf (FSD), was established by the British Lady Templer in 1954. Lady Templer was the wife of the Pesuruhjaya Tinggi Malaya of Malaysia, before Malaysia's Independence in 1957. Deaf students went to FSD, which was ruled by British Special Education, to learn oral skills, not sign language. However, the students would sign by themselves in the dormitory of FSD every night.
In the 1960s, Tan Yap went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. to learn deaf culture and sign language. He brought an ASL book back with him to Malaysia. But Tan Yap's suggestions were rejected by the Government. (Tan Yap now lives in Kuala Lumpur. He is considered the father of the Deaf in Malaysia.)
American Professor Frances Parsons declared that none of the students could speak a perfect sentence. Parsons travelled around the world in 1976 in order to introduce Total Communication and Sign Language to poor..... full article at Wikipedia |
